Disease

Food Poisoning - Moscow

The Moscow Department of Rospotrebnadzor reported this week that dozens of people have been sickened after eating food from vending machines in Moscow. As of Wednesday, at least 51 people developed symptoms of food poisoning and 26 required hospitalization.

DR Congo - Ebola

The World Health Organization on Wednesday declared Congo’s Ebola outbreak an international health emergency, sounding a rarely used global alarm after the virus threatened to spread to a major city and into neighbouring countries.

Despite a highly effective vaccine and a swift international response after it was declared 11 months ago, the outbreak has proved tenacious in an unstable region beset by violence, becoming Congo’s worst ever, with almost 1,700 dead.

Flu Season

At least 300 people have died from the flu in Australia, more than double the number in all of 2018. The most virulent flu strains in years have already infected 136,000 people, compared to about 17,350 at the same point in past years.

Health officials say this year’s vaccine appears to be “strongly effective” against most of the flu strains circulating. They add that careful monitoring is needed to see if the early spike of the Australian influenza outbreak has implications for the upcoming 2019-20 flu season in the Northern Hemisphere.